BOTH ARMY AND PEOPLE SHOULD BE PREPARED TO WAR, MILITARY EXPERT

news.az
April 26 2010
Azerbaijan

Vladimir Timoshenko News.Az interviews Vladimir Timoshenko, military
expert.

President of Azerbaijan and supreme commander of the country, Ilham
Aliyev, held a session in the defense ministry on issues of army
construction during which it was stated that the Azerbaijani army is
ready to liberate the occupied lands through war at any minute. If
I am not mistaken, this is the first event of this kind, at least,
held publicly. Does it show that the war for Karabakh may start soon?

No, I do not agree with this opinion. Azerbaijan has clearly stated
intention to settle the Karabakh conflict peacefully. Even if we
launch hostilities, this will not occur soon. The conduction of the
session was natural. Other countries, including neighbor Russia,
also apply the practice of holding such events with participation of
the supreme commander. The head of state meets military command and
discusses issues of the strategy of military development, especially
now when we speak of the state that is at war with another country
and whose lands have long been under occupation. Thus, we should not
accentuate this issue, because it is a natural thing.

You have mentioned that Azerbaijan can apply the forced way of
the conflict settlement but not now. Could you please explain your
position? Do you think the world community is not too persuaded in
Azerbaijan’s rightness or probably this is the matter of Azerbaijani
army readiness or there are some other reasons?

You are partly right. The position of the world community should also
be taken into account. All organizations of which Azerbaijan is a
member or with which it maintains ties support exclusively peaceful
solution to the conflict. As for the combat readiness of the armed
forces of Azerbaijan, our army is ready to protect the state interests
both morally and in terms of equipment.

On the other hand, this is not enough. Not only army but also the
people and the state must be ready for war. And now let’s analyze the
current situation. The current mood of the society is different. Much
time has passed since the first war and a new generation who has
quite vague understanding of Nagorno Karabakh and the way we have
been deprived of it has already grown up in the country.

Only those who have passed through this war, who shed blood and lost
health know the price of it all.

The spirit in the society must be like it had been by mid 1992 when
even fathers of five children went to the front on a goodwill basis.

The same spirit must be observed today for the serious talks of war.

Meanwhile, we have had a serious reassessment of values and no one
among the public representatives can be blamed for this. The claims
must be put to the ideological front and the way the patriotic
campaign is held in our country. I have to state with regret that
our mass media publish too little patriotic articles.

I have recently spoken at the presentation of a book during which
I voiced my regret that the currently generation is brought up on
different heroes. The current generation has quite different heroes
who are striving for fame and enrichment and have no patriotic ideals.

Certainly, it is difficult to blame people for it. They are not
responsible for it since the reassessment of values has occurred
throughout these years and they have seen a better life. In order to
change the situation, it is necessary to change the ideological work
at different levels including mass media.

In addition, it is necessary to reward the people who fought for the
liberation of our native lands. The government must take care of the
war veterans and the families of the deceased.

At the same session, Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Safar Abiyev said
the armament of the national army allows eliminating any target in
any place in Armenia. We have always stated that we are not going
to attack Armenia and our aim is to liberate our lands. Does the
statement of the minister refute this?

No, no one is going to attack Armenia and the Azerbaijani soldiers
will never step to this land. We have no such plans. We are going
to hold hostilities in Azerbaijan up to borders with Armenia. On the
other hand, if the threat to us is posed from the Armenian territory,
we will have to respond.

By his statement, the defense minister just wanted to stress the
potential of our army and made it clear that it is capable of
terminating any source of threats at quite a big distance.

Much is speculated about the possible interference of the CSTO regional
organization into the Karabakh conflict in case of the direct threat
to Armenia as a member of this organization during a new war.

What can you say about it?

This is a wrong interpretation. CSTO implies the interference in case
of attack on Armenia. By the way, Armenia has a separate deal on mutual
military assistance with Russia that views the military intervention
of a third country to one of the parties as an attack against another
party of the document. But I repeat once again that Azerbaijan is not
going to attack Armenia. Our aim is to liberate Karabakh and other
occupied regions around it and in this case no one has a right to
take a single step to protect Armenia. Certainly, Azerbaijan will be
criticized but I rule out the interference of the third countries.

What are the prospects of the peaceful solution to the conflict?

The only frustrating thing is that the peaceful talks have been
ineffective throughout these years. The conduct of superpowers,
including those directly involved into the settlement process-the
United States and others-seems, at least, odd. The policy of double
standards is obvious here. Everyone seems to have forgotten the
well-known resolutions of the UN Security Council that state the need
of the immediate withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied lands
of Azerbaijan. In this sense, I fully share the thesis of chief of
foreign relations department of the Presidential Administration of
Azerbaijan, Novruz Mammadov, regarding the current situation around
the Karabakh conflict settlement that was published abroad.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress